1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print managing apparatus, a print managing method, and a computer program. More particularly, the invention is suitable when it is used to confirm a result of a printing process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In commercial printing such as a POD (Print On Demand) system, it is necessary to strictly confirm a result of a print output, the number of recording sheets, and the like. For this purpose, such a technique has been disclosed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-91720) whereby a result of a printing process is held as a log in a printing apparatus (hereinbelow, simply referred to as a printer) and a print server confirms the log held in the printer.
However, according to the foregoing related art, since the print server requests and refers to the log held in a hard disk provided for the printer, although the print result can be certainly managed, such a process applies a load on the printer. Generally, a speed of an access accompanied with the writing and reading of data into/from the hard disk is lower than an accessing speed of a RAM or the like and a processing load in such an access is larger. Such a frequent access to the hard disk deteriorates performance of the printer. In other words, if the print server frequently obtains the log in order to accurately confirm the print completion result in the printer, there is a risk of exerting an influence on the printing process which is being executed by the printer.
There is also a case where there is a necessity to reactivate the print server which is monitoring the printing during the printing process, or a communication error occurs between the printer and the print server, or the printer which is executing the printing process is reactivated, or the like. In such cases, there is a risk that a print control program in the print server loses a print job which is being monitored and cannot confirm a processing result of the print job.
Further, in the case where the execution of the printing based on print data existing in the printer is instructed by a computer such as a print server or the like away from the printer, such a print server does not have a unit for managing the print job based on the print data. Consequently, there is also such an inconvenience that the print processing result cannot be managed.